Rome business school moves to sustain family enterprises
Humphrey Akanazu
Rome Business School has restated its commitment to sustaining family business enterprises in Nigeria given their potential to lift the economy, especially at the micro level.The Country Manager of the school, Dr. Humphrey Akanazu, said this in an interview with The Guardian in Lagos. He said most family enterprises in Nigeria were endangered owing to issues bordering on corporate governance, foresight and succession, among others.
Citing a country like Italy, he said family enterprises had a prevalence in the economy, with over 90 per cent stance, adding that there was no reason Nigeria should not pursue such feats, as it would have a multiplier effect on the country’s Gross Domestic Product.
To this end, Akanazu said today at the Lagos office of Rome Business School, there would be an intensive training session for members of existing family enterprises and would-be family businesses.He said the first session of the training was done in Abuja, and the third would be executed towards the end of the year.
The Rome Business School boss added: “Succession planning, corporate governance and sustainability will be our thrust at this training. We want to prove that indigenous businesses are sustainable.
“A whole lot of issues will be brought to the fore. Critical issues like accountability in business, transparency and integrity. These are very critical elements in the bid to sustain family businesses.”Akanazu said family businesses needed long-term vision to grow and become more viable, adding that the era had gone when money-making is the focus.
“Now, it is all about value and passion. It is the value a business is able to provide that sustains the business,” he added.According to him, a lot of networks are created by family businesses over the years, and such networks, if harnessed, could help future generations to drive the businesses and make them increasingly sustainable.“Children of such business owners could leverage on the existing network and make more impacts instead of going ahead to form new businesses, which propensity of success has not been tested.”
